1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of electrical wiring devices such as, by way of example, electrical switches and/or receptacles and accessories for said switches and/or receptacles of the type installed in building walls.
2. Description of the Related Art
When modifying the wiring in an existing building, whether public, commercial or residential by adding a wiring device such as a switch, a receptacle or a combination of switches and receptacles, it is necessary to cut a hole in a wall of the building, install a box within the hole, attach the box to a vertical stud and install the wiring device(s) into the box. In new construction, the box is attached to a stud of an open wall and, thereafter, the wall, which may be sheet rock having an opening for access to the box, is placed over the studs. The conventional wall box has pairs of mounting ears for mounting the wiring devices to the box. After the wiring devices are connected to the various conductors which they will service, each is fastened with threaded fasteners such as screws to a pair of ears on the box. The process of connecting a wiring device to various conductors and then attaching the wiring device with the attached wires to the box is done for each wiring device located within the box. Thereafter, a wall plate is typically positioned around each wiring device in the box.
Typical installations can include one or multiple wiring devices positioned side by side in a common box. In installations where there are multiple wiring devices in a common box, the installation of the wall plate can be time consuming. The wiring devices must be aligned with each other, must be positioned parallel to each other and must be spaced from each other by a distance dictated by the spacing between the openings or windows in the wall plate. Misalignment and positioning problems are often caused by wall boxes that are skewed relative to the wall or by walls which may not be flat. It is only after all of the wiring devices are accurately positioned relative to each other that a wall plate can be installed around the wiring devices.
A common type of electrical wiring device in use today is the rocker type Decora-branded electrical switch whose activating member pivots about a centrally located horizontal axis and is flat in its horizontal plane. The trademark “Decora” is owned by the assignee of the present invention. To operate, the rocker switch actuating member is pushed in at the top to supply electricity to a load such as a light, and is pushed in at the bottom to disconnect the source of electricity from the load. Thus, with two or more rocker type switches positioned side by side in a box, the actuating members or paddles of the switches can be in opposite positions at any one time. For example, with two or more rocker type switches positioned side-by-side in a box, the top edges of the paddles of the switches will not be in alignment when they are not all in their “on” or “off” position. The in-out positioning of adjacent switches can also occur when all the switches are in their on or off state if one of the switches is a 3-way or 4-way switch. The irregular in-out positioning of adjacent switches, particularly with 3-way and 4-way switches, can cause operational uncertainty in the mind of the user as to which switch is on and which switch is off when subsequent activation or deactivation of less than all of the rocker switches is desired by a user. Another type of wiring device in use today is a receptacle having a flat face. In normal use, it is not uncommon to gang a receptacle with a switch. A receptacle with a flat face, when ganged with a switch which is also flat in one plane, typically presents a discontinuous array of wiring devices which homeowners seem to find objectionable.